Ezekiel 44:9 — Meaning and Application

In that ye have brought {into my sanctuary} strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, {even} my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations. {strangers: Heb. children of a stranger}

And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things: but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves. {my charge: or, my ward, or, ordinance}

Thus saith the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that {is} among the children of Israel.

And the Levites that are gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols; they shall even bear their iniquity.

Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, {having} charge at the gates of the house, and ministering to the house: they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them.